ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. — The son of the owner of the Algo Centre Mall found himself branded a liar Thursday during cross-examination on his fourth and final day on the stand at the inquiry into the deadly collapse of the building last summer.

Lawyers accused Levon Nazarian of hiding evidence about the mall’s state of disrepair, and of resorting to unethical behaviour to protect his father, who risked losing the facility.

Rob MacRae, who represents an engineer that found the mall structurally sound just weeks before it collapsed, said concrete fell in a store around June 2011 but Nazarian hid the fact.

Nazarian responded by saying the mall manager had told him there was nothing to worry about because the fallen material was fire-proofing, not concrete.